Portable cup assembly



Jan. 5, 1943. R. H. SAYRE PORTABLE CUP ASSEMBLY Filed Feb. 28, 1940 B27 7 (KTTORNEYS Patented Jan. 5, 1943 2,301,241 PORTABLE CUP ASSEMBLY Bay H. Sayre, Emsworth, Pa.

Application February as, 1940, Serial No. 321,295

3 Claims. (01. 224-45 My invention relates to drinking cups, and consists in an unit assembly of cups in a portable carrier, which carrier, conveniently, is also adapted to support a stack of saucers.

The structure of the invention is of artistic and pleasing appearance; it includes a stand or carrier adapted primarily for the support of a plurality of cups and incidentally for the support of a stack of saucers that are used with the cups in service. The stand and the supported cups and saucers are readily portable as a unit, and, as such, the assembly is of particular value to the hostess at bridge luncheons and the like. It is characteristic of the assembly that the cups in a line, and the line is secured against displacement on a suspension rod. The cups, even thoughthey are, as said, assembled in contact with one another, cannot rattle or clash in such manner as to chip the rims of the cups or their handles. In the realization of a unit assembly possessive or utility oi. the nature indicated, I bring into new association several structural refinements. One of such refinements is round in the structure of the cups per se, and the others in the structure of the carrier or stand.

In the accompanying drawing an embodiment of the invention is shown in perspective.

Referring to the drawing, the carrier structure is, conveniently, made of wood, and the base is formed of two blocks 1 and 2, mortised and integrated in the shape of a cross. Extending upward from the base i, 2 is a member 3, and at a substantial interval above the base is an elongate, horizontal, flexible rod 4. The rod 4 is firmly anchored at its leit-hand end in the member 3, and provides a cantilever support for a horizontally nested group of cups C.

The cups, as may be understood from what has been said before, are peculiarly adapted for nested suspension in the particular carrier. Specifically, I use cups whose perforate handles extend from the side of each cup in parallelism with the plane of the cups rim. By virtue of such departure rrom cups having the ordinary vertical handles, the several cups are adapted to be nested compactly in a horizontal line, a line extending laterally from the upright carrier member 3 and suspended on rod 4.

It will be understood that the rod 4 extends through the aligned perforations in handles it of the cups, and that the cups are readily removable lrom the carrier by slipping them, another, from their nested position on the rod 4.

The upright member 3 is rigidly secured to one of the bar engages one after end or the basal block l of the carrier, and it may be noted that the base may be employed as a support for a stack of saucers S. A vertical post 5 is provided at'each end or the base block 2, and these posts 5, together with the lower body portion of member 3, serve to secure the saucers S in accurately stacked position on the base I, 2.

Advantageously, the upright member 3 is continued at its upper end in a horizontally extending arch position 3a, and this arch portion, extending in common vertical plane with the suspension rod 4, provides a handle, whereby the unit assembly may be readily transported.

In refinement, the distal end of flexible rod '4 is arranged yieldingly to engage. from below, the otherwise free terminal 3b oi the handle portion 3a of the carrier, thus preventing accidental dislodging of the supported cups. The elongate, cantilever rod 4 comprises a bar or wood or metal of substantial resilience, and it is anchored in such position'in member 3 that the distal end the end 3b of the handle portion 3a in the desired manner. The rod 4 sustains the dead weight of the group of cups, and sustains the weight of the cups augmented by the effect of inertia, as the carrier is lifted and carried in the hand. In installing or removing cups, the rod 4 is pressed downward, so that its distal end is removed from engagement with the handle portion a sufllcient interval to permit passage of the cup handles.

The application for this patent comprised a continuation in part of application Serial No. 142,768, filed May 15, 1937. i

I claim as my invention:

1. A portable carrier for a line of nested cups having perforate handles arranged in alignment, said carrier comprising a base upon which the carrier is adapted to stand upon a supporting surface, a support member extending upward from said base, a rod secured at one end to said support member at a point spaced at an interval above said base, said rod extending as a cantilever from said support member and adapted to receive the aligned handles of a nested group of cups, said support member being continued above said rod in an arched portion that extends upward from and over said rod and then downward to a point adjacent to the distal end or said rod and providing a detent effective in prethe unintentional removal of cups body of said arched portion the distal end of said rod and of the rod with said support providing between thepoint of union member a handle by means of which the carrier and the articles assembled thereon may be-lifted and transported in the hand.

2. A portable carrier for a line of nested cupl having perforate handles arranged in alignment. said carrier comprising a base upon which the carrier is adapted to stand upon a supporting surface. a support member extending upward from said base, an elongate substantially horizontal ro'd secured at one end to said support member at a point spaced at an interval above said base, said rod extending as a cantilever from said support member and adapted to receive the aligned handles 01' a nested group of cu'ps, said support member being continued above said rod in an arched portion that extends upward from and over said rod and then downward to a point adjacent to the distal end of said rod and providing a detent eflective in prevention of the unintentional removal of cups from the rod, and the body of ing between the distal end of said rod and the point of union of the rod with said support member a handle by means of which the carrier and the articles assembled thereon may be lifted and transported in the hand, the body of said cantilever rod being suiiiciently rigid to sustain not said arched portion providlineof weight oftheiine auementedbyinertia only the-dead weisbt of a at an interval above said red, the said handle-forming portion cooperating with the distal end of said rod in normally securing the line of cups in suspended position on the rod.

RAY H. SAYRE. 

